POEMS WRITTEN IN YOUTH. Of the Poems in this class, "THE EVENING WALK" and "DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES" were first published in 1793. They are reprinted with some alterations that were chiefly made very soon after their publication. * * * * * This notice, which was written some time ago, scarcely applies to the Poem, "Descriptive Sketches," as it now stands. The corrections, though numerous, are not, however, such as to prevent its retaining with propriety a place in the class of Juvenile Pieces. 1836. I. EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, COMPOSED IN ANTICI PATION OF LEAVING SCHOOL. DEAR native regions, I foretell, From what I feel at this farewell, That, wheresoe'er my steps may tend, If in that hour a single tie Survive of local sympathy, My soul will cast the backward view, Thus, while the Sun sinks down to rest II. 1786. WRITTEN IN VERY EARLY YOUTH. CALM is all nature as a resting wheel. Dark is the ground; a slumber seems to steal III. AN EVENING WALK. ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY. General Sketch of the Lakes. - Author's Regret of his Youth which was passed amongst them.- Short Description of Noon. Cascade.- Noontide Retreat. Precipice and slop ing Lights.-Face of Nature as the Sun declines. — Mountain Farm, and the Cock. Slate-Quarry. - Sunset. - Superstition of the Country connected with that Moment. - Swans. — Female Beggar.- Twilight Sounds.- Western Lights. Spirits. — Night.— Moonlight. - Hope. — Night Sounds. Conclusion. FAR from my dearest Friend, 't is mine to rove Through bare gray dell, high wood, and pastoral cove; Where Derwent rests, and listens to the roar That stuns the tremulous cliffs of high Lodore; Where peace to Grasmere's lonely island leads, To willowy hedge-rows, and to emerald meads; Leads to her bridge, rude church, and cottaged grounds, * Her rocky sheepwalks, and her woodland bounds; *These lines are only applicable to the middle part of that lake. Fair scenes, erewhile, I taught, a happy child, In youth's keen eye the livelong day was bright, Was heard, or woodcocks* roamed the moonlight hill. In thoughtless gayety I coursed the plain, And hope itself was all I knew of pain; For then, the inexperienced heart would beat At times, while young Content forsook her seat, And wild Impatience, pointing upward, showed, Through passes yet unreached, a brighter road. Alas! the idle tale of man is found Depicted in the dial's moral round; Hope with reflection blends her social rays To gild the total tablet of his days; Yet still, the sport of some malignant power, He knows but from its shade the present hour. But why, ungrateful, dwell on idle pain? To show what pleasures yet to me remain, Say, will my Friend, with unreluctant ear, The history of a poet's evening hear? *In the beginning of winter, these mountains are frequent ed by woodcocks, which in dark nights retire into the woods. When, in the south, the wan noon, brooding still, Breathed a pale steam around the glaring hill, And shades of deep-embattled clouds were seen, Spotting the northern cliffs with lights between; When crowding cattle, checked by rails that make A fence far stretched into the shallow lake, Lashed the cool water with their restless tails, Or from high points of rock looked out for fanning gales ; When schoolboys stretched their length upon the green; And round the broad-spread oak, a glimmering scene, In the rough fern-clad park, the herded deer *The word intake is local, and signifies a mountain inclosure. † Ghyll is also, I believe, a term confined to this country: ghyll, and dingle, have the same meaning. |